78: Esther Weller

My guest this week is Esther Weller, Chair of the Lampeter Society who was a student in Lampeter in the mid to late 90s. Esther was born in London but then moved to Wales when she was six months old and grew up in the South Wales Valleys. We learn that she wanted to find out about her family background before it is too late and we find out what she found out. Esther talks about her father’s Jewish background and about her family’s association with a betting club and the community aspect around Passover. In terms of earliest memories, Esther remembers her first day of school and having milk in the playground and how she was to lose a teacher to cancer. She has strong memories of her maternal grandmother and we discover what it was like to go to university from an all girls’ school where she wasn’t used to being around boys and why Lampeter was very much a ‘hidden gem’. We talk about the growth of coffee shop culture in recent years and how students don’t drink alcohol so much anymore. As a child she listened to the charts on a Sunday on her Walkman while helping her parents decorate and we find out that Esther only listens to love songs. The first cassette single she bought was the Bangles’ ‘Eternal Flame’ and Esther talks about how it was better in respect of shared community in the days when we all used to watch the same programmes on the TV. Esther talks about the university tutors who stood out, including one who was so inspirational. We also learn that Esther was involved in the Albania Appeal and went there to deliver aid, including working once in a children’s home and hearing gunshots all around her. She also once drove a lorry to Bosnia to bring aid to refugee camps, and Esther talks about the importance of making a mark in life by helping people. Towards the end of the interview we learn that university was the first time she felt she could be herself and we talk about how our children end up with accents that we might not have, about how her upbringing was very positive and how she wanted to make her parents proud. We also discover at the end whether she is a looking back or a looking forward kind of person. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Esther Weller and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.